– New Jersey Beer Company: If you haven’t heard, McCarthy is helping his buddy start a brewing company in New Jersey. The logo’s dope, the beer should be tasty, and McCarthy gets to keep his beard.

– Trombone Shorty: Best. Concert. Ever. Well, not really, but pretty fucking close. Great night at the Highline Ballroom last night with this trombone player from New Orleans. He doesn’t play jazz, more like R&B, rock, funk, soul. Did some covers but the most impressive thing was they just never slowed down. Just when you thought some drum solo was going to happen and Shorty would leave the stage… he’d pick up drum sticks and help the drummer. Energy was high the whole time and if you get the chance to see him, do it. It was like a Roots show when they have a lot of brass players. Oh, and the douchebag in the flannel – we would have beaten the shit out of you.

– Penny gets a new look: No, not my mom, but our one cent piece. This hits the streets this year: (Boing Boing)

– Fuck Frugans: These are people who have roof over their heads yet live their lives like homeless people. They scrounge garbage cans for food, books, and other shit you wouldn’t touch if it was in a garbage can. Bucheri’s waiting for the next posting that says “Instead of paying rent, it’s fun and affordable to shield yourself from the elements inside any standard cardboard box. I am so opportunistic!” They do this all in the name of preserving food and being better humans by limiting waste. I call it “fucking over the homeless”. And if that stops me from being invited to a Frugan dinner party, then thank God. (Boing Boing)

– China helps America: Some people are pissed that China keeps the yuan cheap compared to our dollar, and in fact our President claims China is manipulating their currency. Fair enough, but if most of what China exports are chemicals and other components of the goods we create here, then don’t we want that to be cheap as shit? That makes our products cheaper so more people can afford them… oh wait, sorry, I’m making economic sense. My bad. (Carpe Diem)

– Which leads me to Krugman: My head is about to explode. I really don’t know what happened to this guy but there’s no reason why I should be doing more research than he does for his articles. He’s a Nobel prize winner, people supposedly respect him, and he has a wide audience. Yet this week he wrote an article about the most unionized and socialist state in the Union (California) as proof that a free market in health insurance won’t solve the problem. What? Here’s Krugman:

“For example, some claim that health costs would fall dramatically if only insurance companies were allowed to sell policies across state lines. But California is already a huge market, with much more insurance competition than in other states; unfortunately, insurers compete mainly by trying to excel in the art of denying coverage to those who need it most. And competition hasn’t averted a death spiral. So why would creating a national market make things better?”

“Wellpoint’s rate hikes are the direct result of the Golden State’s insurance regulations—the kind that Democrats want to impose on all 50 states. Under federal Cobra rules, the unemployed are allowed to keep their job-related health benefits for 18 to 36 months. California then goes further and bars Anthem from dropping these customers even after they have exhausted Cobra. California also caps what Anthem can charge these post-Cobra customers.

…

This explains why Anthem lost $58 million in California on its post-Cobra customers in 2009. If WellPoint didn’t raise premiums amid these losses, it would soon be under assault from its shareholders, if not out of business.”

So yeah, Cali has a lot of competition and consumers to rope in… but they also have a shit ton of regulation and policies that no other state enforces. In other words, it’s not so simple an argument as Krugman makes it. Maybe he is right – that buying insurance across state lines won’t help – but he used the worst example possible.

– Two sites from Ces: Unurth.com, which is a street art site, and Egotastic.com, which posts pictures of hot celebrities. Enjoy. (Ces)

– Twitter update: 33 followers (down from 35, what the fuck?). Will have to start posting on trending topics… No RTs nor mentions.

– The Marks Financial Update:

MAB – We left Bunk at $15.05 two weeks ago and he’s risen… to $15.25. On the plus side, I think the Jaime stop-gap keeps him above $15 as he came close but never dipped below. Investors were a little annoyed that he didn’t submit a banner for the Update once a week like he said. Liar.

MDH – If you listened to me and bought Harter at $2 then I apologize. Dude is sinking on a nice slope here the past two weeks. Maybe because his boss’s boss is getting the team on Twitter? I guess emails don’t work anymore? Also, that new territory of Jamaica, Queens probably doesn’t help. Harter just became a little bit more risky even at $1.87.

MFL – Got as high as $13.17 but finished down at $12.78. Investors sold coming into the weekend knowing he had a dinner Friday night in the city, then most likely coming back in for ERK!’s band tonight. Usually his NYC visits create a rise, so if I was Mark Lee I’d be careful tonight in the city. Just saying.

– What you missed: Archer. Until I know all three of you are watching this show, it stays here. Hulu has the first two episodes, which were actually the weakest but definitely worth checking out. FX will have a marathon on February 25th, so set your DVRs. Hopefully by the next time I see you, when I say “Danger zone!” you’ll laugh.